Date: 20 August 2008

Web Booms As High Street Slumps

Latest figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index show that £4.8bn was spent by UK shoppers on the internet in July.

Sales rose 11.3% on the previous month - a sharp comparison to British Retail Consortium figures which showed that high street sales for July had dropped 0.9% month-on-month.

The unseasonal wet weather was blamed for keeping people away from the shops - and they got their credit cards out and started clicking instead, sending online clothing sales up 23%.

The electrical sector, which has seen a tough trading year so far, also experienced its highest monthly growth of 2008 in July.

David Walmsley, head of web selling at JohnLewis.com, said: "(We) saw strong performance in July despite the tough trading conditions.

"We sell a very broad range of products online and saw particularly positive sales in televisions and home electricals, as well as our children's ranges."

Stephanie Curry, operations director for Shoe-Shop.com, said: "Despite the doom and gloom on the high st and a summer which has killed sandal sales, our web sales are still growing at over 30% year on year.

"The internet is becoming ever more important as a location to find quality products not available in every town."

Sourced from SkyNews.com